Data Collaborative Taps Predictive Analytics to Coordinate Care

Four geographically disparate health systems are banding together to redesign clinical care based on data to solve population health challenges such as preventable readmissions.

Name the technology, and unless it's a da Vinci robot or some other clinical whiz-bang item, hospitals and health systems are constantly criticized for being behind the curve. That's partially because it's been true. Hospitals and health systems have historically resisted investment in technology that would help make coordinate care better.

They've never had to, because their reimbursement didn't depend on it. But that's changing. Rapidly.

Until several years ago, medical records were still largely based on paper—never mind something as innovative as redesigning clinical care based on data. Real-time interventions based on predictive analytics seemed as unattainable as world peace.

But four members of the Premier healthcare alliance, with the help of IBM, are looking to change that with Wednesday's announcement of the formation of the Data Alliance Collaborative.

Texas Health, Fairview Health Services, Catholic Health Partners, and Carolinas HealthCare System, along with IBM, are the founding partners of the data collaborative, which is billed as the first of its kind in healthcare.